Tuesday, June 15, 2010

PacMan was massive in the 80's. But he disappeared. Many people wondered where he went. Now it seems the answer has come to light. New images picked up by the Cassini spacecraft on orbit around Saturn found this image in the moon of Mimas.

Mimas is about 400km (250 miles) across. It has a distinctive scar called Herschel Crater which has led many to draw comparisons with the "Death Star" from the Star Wars movies.Perhaps after watching star wars, Pak man valiantly went out on a mission to save the human race from this perceived threat?

His disappearance from our computer screens in the 90's was certainly a good thing for some people who said that hours and hours playing PacMan would effect the behaviour of a whole generation of children - which proved to be nonsense. I mean would an entire generation of teenagers and 20 somethings really spend hours and hours in a darkened room, listening to repetitive music, while eating pills? Err.... Anyway.

Scientists are trying to explain away the image saying they are unsure why Mimas should display such thermal variations, but say it is probably related to the diversity of textures in the surface materials. Some textures may retain heat better than others, they explain.Still, I prefer the PacMan explanation.

Cassini is a joint venture between the US space agency (Nasa), the European Space Agency (Esa) and the Italian Space Agency (ASI). Perhaps it is only a matter of time before they stumble across donkey Kong junior on Pluto, a galaxy-wide game of asteroids or even discover some real-life space invaders?